Re: be kind to your grains

I thought the educated folks knew for years that white flour, white rice, and peel-less white potatoes were nothing but empty starch with a very high glycation index that, after the saliva does its work, gets into the blood stream as glucose then does battle with the insulin. If that hormone is unable to control the mess, hello diabetes.

In the early 60''s I had the good fortune to live in NYC for a couple of years and heard a "preacher" Dr Carlton Fredericks, Ph.D. in Health Education, pouring fire and brimstone on the radio about the garbage foods that filled the supermarkets at the time. At that time. typically a 40' bread shelf had just a few feet of whole wheat bread and the rest was garbage.

Fortunately I was in my early 20s at the time and I learned a life-long lesson from him.
I have never eaten that garbage, never eaten fast food, almost always bought fresh food including whole grains and sprouted grains, and eaten a lot of the food raw. Now heading for my mid 70s, my vital organs are all in top shape. I walk, trot, bike and hike and there's a fair chance I'll be around for another 10-20, if a bus or space ship doesn't get me ;-)

TC wrote:
http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/be_kind.html

Be Kind to Your Grains
...And Your Grains Will Be Kind To You
The science of nutrition seems to take a step backwards for every two
steps it takes forward. When the study of vitamins was in its infancy,
researchers realized that white flour lacked the nutrients that nature
put into whole grains. One of these researchers was Dr. Weston Price
who noted in his studies of isolated, so-called "primitive" peoples
that when white flour and other devitalized foods were introduced into
these communities, rampant tooth decay and disease of every sort soon
followed. But defenders of the new refining process argued that
phosphorus in whole grains was "too acid" and was the true cause of
bone loss and tooth decay. Warnings against the use of white flour
went largely ignored.

Only in recent decades has Dr. Price been vindicated. Even orthodox
nutritionists now recognize that white flour is an empty food,
supplying calories for energy but none of the bodybuilding materials
that abound in the germ and the bran of whole grains. We've take two
important steps forward—but unfortunately another step backward in
that now whole grain and bran products are being promoted as health
foods without adequate appreciation of their dangers. These show up
not only as digestive problems, Crohn's disease and colitis, but also
as the mental disorders associated with celiac disease. One school of
thought claims that both refined and whole grains should be avoided,
arguing that they were absent from the Paleolithic diet and citing the
obvious association of grains with celiac disease and studies linking
grain consumption with heart disease.

But many healthy societies consume products made from grains. In fact,
it can be argued that the cultivation of grains made civilization
possible and opened the door for mankind to live long and comfortable
lives. Problems occur when we are cruel to our grains—when we
fractionate them into bran, germ and naked starch; when we mill them
at high temperatures; when we extrude them to make crunchy breakfast
cereals; and when we consume them without careful preparation.

Grains require careful preparation because they contain a number of
antinutrients that can cause serious health problems. Phytic acid, for
example, is an organic acid in which phosphorus is bound. It is mostly
found in the bran or outer hull of seeds. Untreated phytic acid can
combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in
the intestinal tract and block their absorption. This is why a diet
high in improperly prepared whole grains may lead to serious mineral
deficiencies and bone loss. The modern misguided practice of consuming
large amounts of unprocessed bran often improves colon transit time at
first but may lead to irritable bowel syndrome and, in the long term,
many other adverse effects.

Other antinutrients in whole grains include enzyme inhibitors which
can inhibit digestion and put stress on the pancreas; irritating
tannins; complex sugars which the body cannot break down; and gluten
and related hard-to-digest proteins which may cause allergies,
digestive disorders and even mental illness.

Most of these antinutrients are part of the seed's system of
preservation—they prevent sprouting until the conditions are right.
Plants need moisture, warmth, time and slight acidity in order to
sprout. Proper preparation of grains is a kind and gentle process that
imitates the process that occurs in nature. It involves soaking for a
period in warm, acidulated water in the preparation of porridge, or
long, slow sour dough fermentation in the making of bread. Such
processes neutralize phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Vitamin
content increases, particularly B vitamins. Tannins, complex sugars,
gluten and other difficult-to-digest substances are partially broken
down into simpler components that are more readily available for
absorption.

Animals that nourish themselves on primarily on grain and other plant
matter have as many as four stomachs. Their intestines are longer, as
is the entire digestion transit time. Man, on the other hand, has but
one stomach and a much shorter intestine compared to herbivorous
animals. These features of his anatomy allow him to pass animal
products before they putrefy in the gut but make him less well adapted
to a diet high in grains—unless, of course, he prepares them properly.
When grains are properly prepared through soaking, sprouting or sour
leavening, the friendly bacteria of the microscopic world do some of
our digesting for us in a container, just as these same lactobacilli
do their work in the first and second stomachs of the herbivores.

So the well-meaning advice of many nutritionists, to consume whole
grains as our ancestors did and not refined flours and polished rice,
can be misleading and harmful in its consequences; for while our
ancestors ate whole grains, they did not consume them as presented in
our modern cookbooks in the form of quick-rise breads, granolas, bran
preparations and other hastily prepared casseroles and concoctions.
Our ancestors, and virtually all pre-industrialized peoples, soaked or
fermented their grains before making them into porridge, breads, cakes
and casseroles. A quick review of grain recipes from around the world
will prove our point: In India, rice and lentils are fermented for at
least two days before they are prepared as idli and dosas; in Africa
the natives soak coarsely ground corn overnight before adding it to
soups and stews and they ferment corn or millet for several days to
produce a sour porridge called ogi; a similar dish made from oats was
traditional among the Welsh; in some Oriental and Latin American
countries rice receives a long fermentation before it is prepared;
Ethiopians make their distinctive injera bread by fermenting a grain
called teff for several days; Mexican corn cakes, called pozol, are
fermented for several days and for as long as two weeks in banana
leaves; before the introduction of commercial brewers yeast, Europeans
made slow-rise breads from fermented starters; in America the pioneers
were famous for their sourdough breads, pancakes and biscuits; and
throughout Europe grains were soaked overnight, and for as long as
several days, in water or soured milk before they were cooked and
served as porridge or gruel. (Many of our senior citizens may remember
that in earlier times the instructions on the oatmeal box called for
an overnight soaking.)

Bread can be the staff of life, but modern technology has turned our
bread—even our whole grain bread—into a poison. Grains are laced with
pesticides during the growing season and in storage; they are milled
at high temperatures so that their fatty acids turn rancid. Rancidity
increases when milled flours are stored for long periods of time,
particularly in open bins. The bran and germ are often removed and
sold separately, when Mother Nature intended that they be eaten
together with the carbohydrate portion; they're baked as quick rise
breads so that antinutrients remain; synthetic vitamins and an
unabsorbable form of iron added to white flour can cause numerous
imbalances; dough conditioners, stabilizers, preservatives and other
additives add insult to injury.

Cruelty to grains in the making of breakfast cereals is intense.
Slurries of grain are forced through tiny holes at high temperatures
and pressures in giant extruders, a process that destroys nutrients
and turns the proteins in grains into veritable poisons. Westerners
pay a lot for expensive breakfast cereals that snap, crackle and pop,
including the rising toll of poor health.

The final indignity to grains is that we treat them as loners, largely
ignorant of other dietary factors needed for the nutrients they
provide. Fat-soluble vitamins A and D found in animal fats like
butter, lard and cream help us absorb calcium, phosphorus, iron, B
vitamins and the many other vitamins that grains provide. Porridge
eaten with cream will do us a thousand times more good than cold
breakfast cereal consumed with skim milk; sourdough whole grain bread
with butter or whole cheese is a combination that contributes to
optimal health.

Be kind to your grains. . . and your grains will deliver their promise
as the staff of life. Buy only organic whole grains and soak them
overnight to make porridge or casseroles; or grind them into flour
with a home grinder and make your own sour dough bread and baked
goods. For those who lack the time for breadmaking, kindly-made whole
grain breads are now available. Look for organic, stone ground,
sprouted or sour dough whole grain breads and enjoy them with butter
or cheese.

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